Fronteras

A film so beautiful and sincere that made me cry and recall those days of innocence. Don't we need a sequel to tell us how to overcome barriers in life with love and courage? You should not miss this film gays or straights. The movie tells us lot more than a love story if you care about to have a better world. There is lot more areas we need to make effort to improve but first of all to work on ourselves to be a better global individual.

Do you have a good friend who goes far? The (secret) feelings left behind.

My biggest stumbling block while watching this movie is the inconsistency in frame rate, sometimes it's too fast, jumps to another scene suddenly, and the transitions are sometimes too rough. And there is the use of flashbacks that get in the way of understanding the flow of events.

Now let's talk about its greatness. It's a very seldom chosen topic, so it's great. This film portrays illegal immigrants very well. I think this film is more about good friends who care about you, make you comfortable, than gay love story. Nevertheless, the film can still be classified as a gay romance. Rafa-Ibra bond is relatively small (compared to other gay movie) but it has a deep meaningful impact. This is a film about life's struggles, self-discovery, adolescence and all that comes with it, for better or for worse. For me, Rafa's friend Guille (if I'm not wrong) stole the show by giving Rafa money in the last scene. It's a great movie for teenagers to accept themselves and others as they are.

This movie was much better than I thought it would be! I fell like it is just such a heart-warming/awwww type of movie. You can really see a connection build up between the characters and it has several passionate moments where it just seems so authentic. It's not about sex or anything, and it doesn't need to be. It's beautiful and I recommend it if you like to see gay movies about a an attraction between 2 people growing more intense and intimate.

In the world heavily dominated by film works coming from English- speaking countries, it is, from time to time, interesting to get the feel what's going on in other areas. Spain is certainly not an unknown country regarding films, but most of its directors are too sophisticated for me. The advanced information I obtained regarding A escondidas and its "normal" duration made me dedicate the time to it.

Coming of age and out in a country with a high number of not-like- minded immigrant and refugee communities should be a basis for an intense and versatile story where different aspects of human values and understanding can be disclosed in catchy ways. In my opinion, the filmmakers here have not exploited their options in full: the tune and aims are set forth too plainly, and there are discrepancies between the pace and the use of flashbacks, often disturbing to comprehend the course of events. The choice of young actors is great, but there is a limited development of characters, many interesting benchmarks remain in-process until the end.

But as I mentioned, I am not among the target audience, and for certain juveniles, it is apparently a good work to follow. However, the possible audience could be limited by the fact that it has been proclaimed as a LGBT film, although it is far from being a primary topic and mode of expression here.

Original title for this Spanish gem is 'A escondidas'. Rafa is fourteen and hangs around with his mates – some of whom are less than mature. They are also very 'anti Arab' and display the usual teenage attitudes towards sex – being default heterosexual. He plays water polo in his spare time and then his path crosses with a strikingly good looking Moroccan boy called Ibrahim. Ibra as his friends call him lives in a hostel and has no-one back in his native home. The authorities though are falling over themselves to repatriate as many people as possible and do not always want the letter of the law getting in their way.

With that as the backdrop Rafa has an immediate liking for this new kid and goes out of his way to get the attention of Ibra. He is though crossing more than one line by so doing but Rafa is a tryer and god knows we all love one of them – this is their story.

This film is brilliantly acted with a script that gives life and clarity to a very real situation that most of us would never think we would be in. The music is excellent too I spotted the much under rated Fanfarlo in the mix but there is not a full listing on IMDb so I will keep an eye out for the other bands used here as they were all great.Yes this is essentially a gay themed drama but there is no bedroom antics – this is more about teen, first love under extreme circumstances and the friendship that such feelings can induce. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can highly recommend it to not just lovers of gay cinema but anyone who loves a ruddy good love story.